As public works director for Phoenix, Ginger Spencer is trying to make her city the most sustainable in the world.

As public works director for Phoenix, she oversees all things waste for the nation's fifth-largest city.

It may be a smelly job, but it's certainly not small. Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton wants to make the city the most sustainable in the world and to achieve zero waste by 2050. To get there, it's largely up to Spencer.

A south Phoenix native, Spencer has been a passionate public servant in her hometown for two decades. As she explains in our interview, the federal level is for people who want to write policy, the local level is for people who want to make policy happen.

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